Shell Opening Up Chemical Plants in Qatar

Shell, together with Qatar Petroleum is planning for chemical plants project in Qatar. The two companies already have a gas-to-liquid (GTL) project at Ras Laffan producing 120,000 barrels per day of natural gas liquids and 140,000 barrels per day of GTL derivatives.

The chemical project was announced informally by Ben van Beurden, Shell Chemicals' executive vice president duringf the 4th Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) summit.

Exxon Australian LNG Welcomed PetroChina Accord

China's oil producer PetroChina Co will be signing an accord with Exxon Mobil Corp. targeted in the first half of this year to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Gorgon project in Australia under a term contract. 

The world's largest oil company, ExxonMobil owns 25% of the Western Australian Project with remaining stakes by Chevron Corp with 50 percent stake and Royal Dutch Shell Plc has 25 percent. Under the agreement, Exxon agreed to sell 2 million metric tons of LNG a year from the Gorgon project.

This will be on top of PetroChina's 2 million ton per year agreement with Shell in 2008 from the Gorgon project under Shell's portfolio.

Nitrogen Enriched Gasoline by Shell

Shell has unveiled its new nitrogen-enriched gasolines at Shell stations across the U.S codenamed Nitrogen Enriched Gasolines.

The new gasoline contains a unique cleaning system designed to purge carbon deposits in the engine. The new Nitrogen Enriched cleaning system protects and cleans up carbon deposit build-up on intake valves and fuel injectors.

It is believed that the usage of nitrogen as an active cleaning molecule in the new fuel significantly makes it more stable at higher temperatures in modern, tougher conditioned engines. The nitrogen increases the properties of resisting thermal breakdown better than conventional cleaning additives.

Despite Economic Turmoil, Shell is Expanding in Asia

Recently Shell Malaysia has announced that it will be expanding its retail business to include additional 40 petrol pump stations in the year of 2009 despite the recent global turmoil. Some anylysts are confident that this is showing the good fundamentals for Malaysian economy. 

Asia has been hit by the economic slowdown with major share market in the region has been nosediving. However, most are confident that the turmoil are largely affecting the western economy and countries with good fundamentals will see a shake to its economy but nothing major that will cut demand growth significantly.

Shell Seeking JV Partners for Styrene Monomer/ Propylene Oxide Latest Technology

Shell Chemicals is seeking potential joint venture partners for its new styrene monomer (SM) and propylene oxide (PO) facility. The chemical plant is expected to cost in the region of $500 million which is to be built in Southeast Asia or Middle East with a world-scale capacity for Asia Pacific demand.

The chemical will be producing mainly PO with SM as co-products hence having higher flexibility and financial advantages due to current strong propylene oxide value chain.

Shell & QatarGas Supplying LNG to Dubai from 2010

Royal Dutch Shell together with QatarGas signed a deal with the emirates of United Arab Emiratges to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Dubai in the peak demand summer period from 2010. Shell and QatarGas will supply around 1.5 million tonnes of LNG a year for 15 years.

Demand for power and water in the Dubai increased by 20 percent a year, driven by rapid economic and population growth due to tourism, trade and financial services.

Dubai Supply Authority (Dusup) has been given the sole rights to supply gas users. DUSUP will also be responsible in building a floating LNG regasification facility at Jebel Ali port with capacity of 3 million tonnes a year expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2010. Ironically, UAE is the world's fifth-largest gas reserves but has not developed the gas reserves quickly enough to meet its own rising gas demand as the UAE economy expands in particular Dubai.

Shell & Virent Develop New Biogasoline Fuel Technology

Shell and in collaboration with US biofuels company Virent is developing a new biogasoline fuel and blend components directly from plant sugars without the need for fermenting sugars into ethanol. Virent’s catalytic process will be used which is a proven biomass-derived feedstocks to biogasoline production. Researchers claimed that the new biogasoline molecules will have a better fuel efficiency than ethanol. Furthermore, the new biogas can eliminate the need for new engine designs.

Ethylene Oxide/ Ethylene Glycol Licenses Sold by Shell to CNPC

Shell has agreed to sell ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol (EO/EG) licenses for process technology to produce these two chemicals to China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC). CNPC is planning to build a new plant near Chengdu, Sichuan, capable to produce a 380,000 tonnes/year mono ethylene glycol (MEG) facility and a 50,000 tonnes/year ethylene oxide capacity. So far, Shell has sold six EO/EG license to China and with three of them for CNPC. The petrochemical plant will be operated by PetroChina Sichuan Petrochemical, CNPC subsidiary with commissioning targeted in 2010.